Your World Today

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning for their regular meeting. Second District Commissioner Gary Larson was not present due to prior commitments. At the meeting, Salem and Dent County Economic Development Director Sally Burbridge gave her report and said the unemployment for Dent County had fallen to 3.6% which is below the state average of 4.1% for Missouri and 6.1% for the United States. She also said that work on the business directory of the website continues and where you see the new City of Salem logo, then the information for that business has been verified. If you see a black box, it has not. She said they hope to have all the businesses updated by August, and if they can’t get information on a business by then, they will probably be deleted from the site. She will be attending a Missouri Economic Development Council Annual Conference at the Lake of the Ozarks this week. Also in attendance was the new Extension Regional Livestock Specialist Eric Meusch who is based in Dent County. Meusch covers seven counties in the area and says he has a farming system approach to livestock. He said there will be a grazing school at the Wurdack Farm in September, and he said they plan on having a Fall Forage and Grazing Management School at Wurdack in August. He reported the Dent County Extension office will host a position to work with landowners who are having problems with feral hogs. This position is yet to be filled and will be a cooperative effort between the Missouri Department of Conservation and the University of Missouri Extension system. He stated they hope the position is filled by August. Meusch also reported there is a Small Business Development Center for Agriculture, Food and Forestry. This program can provide free training on topics including management, marketing, finance, innovation development, strategic planning and more. The program is FREE and confidential to those who use it. For more information, call the Dent County Extension Office at 729-3196 or Eric directly if he can help you at 573-201-6405. Dent County Treasurer Denita Wiliams presented the sales tax report for the monies collected this month. In the General Revenues and LEST funds, the county received $93,583.11 and that is down from the $121,489.26 received last June. Year-to-date, these funds are down about half of what they should be due to the sales taxes withheld by the state. The Road and Bridge Fund received $44,720.69 this month and that was down $13,254.89 from the monies received last June. In the two jail funds, they each received $89,441.91 this month while in June of 2020, they each received $115,964.25. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray stated grading was going to be done on Dent County Roads 2460, 5150 and 5520 while brush was going to be cut on county road 4110. Mobray reported the gate had been taken down on Dent County Road 4128 and that he sent a man to Springfield to get a load of oil for chip and seal repair. Travis Turner gave the report for District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson and said materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Road 5225 while only grading would be done on county roads 2240, 2270 and 5200. He indicated brush would be cut on Dent County Road 3210 and rock would be added to county road 3220. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said he attended a Transportation Advisory Committee meeting at the MRPC last Thursday. He said the Route FF bridge in Dent County is closed at this time to be replaced, shoulder work is being done on Route HH, and shoulder work and repaving work continues on Highway 68 from Highway 19 to Highway 8. That work will continue into the fall. Skiles said the MRPC Annual Volunteer Awards Dinner will be held on October 21st at Linn State Technical College and it will cost $35 per person. Skiles said he would be attending the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District Full Council meeting today, attend the Central Workforce Board Caucus on Wednesday and attend the West Central County Commissioner Association meeting in Eldon on Thursday. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said she balanced on all collections, abatements and add-ons with the collector and assessor for the month of May, and also balanced on all accounts with the treasurer for the month of May. She also said the commissioners agreed in cooperation with Governor Parson to close the courthouse at noon this Friday. At the last meeting, Dent County Collector Shannon VanKirk reported the monthly turnover report and $57,876.07 was collected and then turned over. She said the county is up $44,000 over last year in property and real estate tax collections. The next commissioner meeting will be Monday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting will be open to the public.

An accident happened early Monday morning at 5:15 on Highway 19 in Crawford County just south of Steelville. According to the report from the highway patrol, a 2016 Ford Explorer being driven by 50-year-old Randy Ware of Steelville, was traveling south when he struck a deer in the roadway. Ware suffered minor injuries and chose to seek his own treatment. The Ford sustained moderate damage and was towed from the scene by Miles and Sons Towing.

The Meramec Regional Community Foundation was able to award 31 Meramec Region students with scholarships totaling $69,300. Of the 31 scholarships, 23 were awarded through the assistance of the Maries County R-2 Schools Foundation to Belle High School 2021 graduating seniors. Those 23 scholarship awards totaled $35,800. Another $13,000 worth of scholarships was awarded to the Belle High School Alumni who qualified for renewable scholarships. Two students from the Salem High School, Amy Chen and Lucas Morrison, received the Richard and Jeanne Cavender Scholarship for Public Service for $750. Those who are interested in establishing an endowed scholarship can contact Bonnie Prigge or Maria Bancroft at MRPC by calling 573-265-2993.